MILLER MOVES PAST HIS MENTOR WHITTINGHAM FOR DEL MAR WINS

With five wins during the second week of the meeting, Peter Miller moved past Charlie Whittingham for 10^th place on Del Mar’s all-time wins list for trainers.

Miller started the meeting with 277 victories here, four behind the legendary Whittingham, and entered Week II needing only one to tie the Hall of Fame conditioner here. The tying win came in Thursday’s third race (Convoluted, Flavien Prat, $4.20), the tie-breaker in Friday’s fourth (Duranga, Jorge Velez, $4.40). Another win on Friday and one each on Saturday and Sunday have Miller at 285, seven behind Mel Stute for ninth.

As a teenager, Miller wanted to be a jockey but was advised he’d outgrow his chances. As an alternative, he worked as a groom during summers in high school then was given his first full-time job as a groom by Whittingham right after he graduated.

Informed Wednesday morning that he had passed his mentor, Miller recoiled slightly and said “Wow, that’s shocking” before reflecting on days with the venerable “Bald Eagle” of Southern California racing.

“It was great to work for him, and for me it was like going into the military,” Miller said. “I needed the discipline and the structure. I think I was 17 and at that age I was a bit of a loose horse. With Charlie, I really learned how to work and be responsible.

“I was afraid to look at him the first six months. If he’d come down the shedrow I’d avert my eyes. Afraid he might melt me or something.

“But then, after that we became very friendly and he was a great guy.”

Whittingham died in 1999 at the age of 86, but his legacy lives on in Miller and several others who learned under him.

“I’ve brought in some of my own stuff, and stuff that I’ve picked up from other trainers. But every day the stuff that I’ve learned from Charlie is still applicable,” Miller said.

Miller enters Week III of the meeting with an 8-5 advantage over Richard Baltas atop the trainer standings. Miller is in pursuit of his second straight summer championship and fourth straight overall counting fall meeting triumphs in 2017 and 2018.

‘FRENCH CONNECTION’ JOCKEYS HAVE VASILIKA, BELLAFINA COVERED

French-born jockeys Flavien Prat and Julien Leparoux will be at opposite ends of the country from their home bases on Saturday aboard two of the best female runners in America.

Prat will be at Saratoga to ride Bellafina in the Test Stakes on Saturday while Leparoux will be here for the assignment on Vasilika in the Grade II $200,000 Yellow Ribbon Stakes.

Prat has ridden Vasilika in her last 13 starts, of which 12 have been wins. But a conflict of races for Vasilika and Bellafina, a Prat mount for all of her nine starts, created a problem for Prat and his agent, Derek Lawson.

The solution: a deal with Leparoux and his agent, Steve Bass, amenable to the Vasilika and Bellafina connections, that allows Prat to keep his commitment to 3-year-old Del Mar Debutante and Santa Anita Oaks winner Bellafina while Leparoux gets a one-time opportunity on the 5-year-old Vasilika.

Eight rivals were entered to take on Vasilika in the 1 1/16-mile turf race as the former $40,000 claimer attempts to stay unbeaten for the year in her fifth 2019 start.

The post position draw was set for Wednesday afternoon, but the entrants in alphabetical order (with jockeys in parentheses) are: Beau Recall (Drayden Van Dyke), Causeforcommotion (Norberto Arroyo, Jr.), Elysea’s World (Joe Talamo), Lemoona (Mario Gutierrez), Storm The Hill (Rafael Bejarano),Toinette (Ruben Fuentes), Valedictorian (C. J. Hernandez) and Youngest Daughter (Brice Blanc).

SIX ENTERED FOR SATURDAY’S GRADE II $200,000 SORRENTO STAKES

A field of six was entered Wednesday for Saturday’s Grade II $200,000 Sorrento Stakes, a six-furlong sprint for 2-year-old fillies that is the major prep for the Grade I $300,000 Del Mar Debutante on Saturday, August 31.

The Sorrento will, as usual, feature fillies with only one or two lifetime starts but have displayed precocity in them.

Comical, a daughter of Into Mischief trained by Doug O’Neill, won her debut on May 26 at Santa Anita by six lengths then shipped to Saratoga for a score by a neck in the Grade III Schuylerville Stakes in the mud on July 11.

“She’s doing really well and I think she’s getting better all the time,” Leandro Mora, O’Neill’s top assistant, said Wednesday morning.

“We’re going to put the same equipment back on her that we had the first time, the shadow roll. We didn’t put the shadow roll on at Saratoga because it was pouring and the shadow roll absorbs too much weight.”

Post positions were to be drawn later Wednesday but the entrants in alphabetical order (with jockeys in parentheses) are: Amalfi Sunrise (Norberto Arroyo, Jr.), Comical (Julien Leparoux), Powerfulattraction (Joe Talamo), Princess Mo (Geovanni Franco), Shanghai Keely (Irving Orozco) and Shedaresthedevil (Drayden Van Dyke).

SCRATCH OF FAVORITE MAKES FOR WIDE OPEN GRADUATION

Trainer Peter Miller’s decision to run unbeaten Bulletproof One in Wednesday’s CTBA Stakes instead of waiting for Friday’s Graduation will make for interesting discussions when the results of both are final.

Both races are 5 ½ furlongs on the main track for California breds with $100,000 purses. The CTBA is for fillies, the Graduation open to both sexes. Miller said he entered her in both, and considered Saturday’s $200,000 Grade II Sorrento for the daughter of Idiot Proof who has won starts at Golden Gate Fields and Pleasanton by a combined 17 ¼ lengths.

Miller ultimately opted for the CTBA, which figures as the most logical and potentially least challenging of the three.

“This will be her toughest race yet and we decided to stick with the first plan,” Miller said. “The others looked a little tougher.”

Oddsmaker Russ Hudak had Bulletproof One as the 3-1 morning line favorite as the only filly against nine males in the Graduation before the scratch. The field from the rail: Project Leader (Evin Roman 20-1), Darnquick (Hugo Herrera, 15-1), Big Returns (Ruben Fuentes, 9-2), Shady Empire (Edwin Maldonado, 10-1), Fast Enough (Tiago Pereira, 7-2), Bam Bam Again (Rafael Bejarano, 10-1), Bluegrass Faith (Geovanni Franco, 8-1), Square Deal (Norberto Arroyo, Jr., 8-1) and Pas de Panique (Abel Cedillo, 6-1).

JOCKEYS WORKING TO BE IN SYNC FOR KARAOKE CONTEST

Joe Talamo, Mike Smith, Aaron Gryder, Rafael Bejarano and Flavien Prat have their act set and are in the rehearsal stage for Sunday’s Karaoke Contest at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach.

The above mentioned five will be costumed like and performing the Boy Band sensation of the late 1990s and early 2000s,  NSYNC, hit Bye Bye Bye.

“We’re going to look like them, but I don’t think we’ll sing like them,” said Talamo, the hit of the 2018 program when he channeled John Travolta in “Saturday Night Fever.”

Other riders scheduled to perform include Geovanni Franco, Iggy Puglisi, Kent Desormeaux, Edwin Maldonado, Mario Gutierrez and more. It’s a head-to-head singing competition alongside a silent and live auction which benefits the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.

Ticket and other information is available through pdjf.org.

CLOSERS – Selected works from 269 officially timed over the past three mornings: Monday – McKinzie (4f, :48.00), Omaha Beach (4f, :49.20), Savagery (4f, :50.00), Calexman (5f, 1:01.80), Dr. Dorr (5f, :59.60), Metropol (6f, 1:13.40); Tuesday – American Anthem (4f, :49.00), Bronn (4f, :47.20), Fahan Mura (5f, 1:01.40), Improbable (6f, 1:12.60); Wednesday – Flor de La Mar (4f, :46.80), Maxim Rate (4f, :49.60), Garth (5f, :59.60), Marley’s Freedom (5f, 1:00.20).

DEL MAR STATISTICS

Jockey Standings

(Current Through Sunday, July 28, 2019 Inclusive)

Trainer Standings

(Current Through Sunday, July 28, 2019 Inclusive)

Winning Favorites Report

(Current Through Sunday, July 28, 2019 Inclusive)

Winning favorites -- 38 out of 82 -- 46.34%

Winning favorites on dirt -- 23 out of 48 -- 47.92%

Winning favorites on turf -- 15 out of 34 -- 44.12%

Winning odds-on favorites -- 9 out of 13 -- 69.23%

In-the-Money favorites -- 62 out of 82 -- 75.61%

In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 13 out of 13 -- 100.00%